08 March, 2008

"In 1996, when Eve Ensler premiered The Vagina Monologues at a small performance space in downtown New York, she received the type of response playwrights dream about: critical acclaim, an Obie award, and sold out houses. Featuring her interviews with more than 200 women talking openly and intimately about their bodies, her play had struck a chord, and as Ensler puts it, "Language leads the way."

The play was a catalyst for an unexpected response: after every show, women would approach Ensler to share their personal stories of surviving violence, at the hands of relatives, lovers, or strangers. Overwhelmed by their number, and having been physically and sexually abused herself by her father, Ensler began to see her play as more than a work of art about women's bodies, but as a vehicle to help protect them."